Isaiah 41:8-20

Isaiah 41:8. But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom l have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.

Let us, for the time being, forget the people to whom this message was addressed, and see whether it might not be spoken to ourselves. Come, my friend, art thou truly God's servant? Dost thou delight to do his will, and to walk in his ways? If so, then thou art God's chosen; for, wherever there is the true spirit of obedience to the Lord, it is the result of his grace, and grace never comes except from the well-head of electing love. If thou art God's servant, thou art God's chosen. Then, see to it that thou dost walk and live as one of the seed of Abraham, whom God calls, «my friend.» It was very touching, the other day, to notice how the Queen spoke of one who was her servant, but who had gained the friendship of his royal mistress. So the Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples, «Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends.» May we so faithfully serve him that it will be fitting for the Lord to speak of us in all three of these terms: «Thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.»

Isaiah 41:9. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

May the Lord just now say that to each one of you who are his servants! Especially, may he say the latter part of it, «I have not cast thee away»! Many times, he might have done so if he had dealt with us according to our deserts. «Dismiss me not thy service, Lord,» is a prayer we ought often to put up, for, in that service, we are far from perfect. I think I speak for all sane Christians; I do not undertake to speak for certain insane ones that abound at this time, but I believe that all sane servants of the Lord confess that they are such poor servants that their wonder is that they have not been dismissed from his service. Yet it is sweet to hear him say, «I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.»

Isaiah 41:10. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God:

Oh, the riches of that word, «I am thy God»! That is more than «Thy Friend, thy Helper.» «I am thy God.»

Isaiah 41:10. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;

First, «I will give thee strength, and then I will use my own strength on thy behalf: ‘I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;'»

Isaiah 41:10. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

The poor child of God seems to cry, «Lord, thou sayest, ‘I will help thee,' but I can hardly stand; I am such a babe, I have not yet learned to stand alone.» «Well, then,» says God, «I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.» Are any of you afraid that you will slip with your feet? Are you put in very perplexing positions, so that you hardly know which way to turn? Then rest on this sweet promise, «Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.»

Isaiah 41:11. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.

The Lord Jesus Christ will put to rout all the enemies of his people. Their sins and their sorrows, their foes and their woes, shall alike be scattered to the wind.

Isaiah 41:12. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.

You know how it happened to Pharaoh and all his hosts; the Israelites could not find them after the Lord had overthrown them in the Red Sea. The psalmist sang, long afterwards, concerning the Egyptians who were drowned, «There was not one of them left.» So shall it be with all those whom you now fear and dread; God shall appear, and work such a deliverance for you that you shall wonder where your trouble is. It shall be drowned, utterly washed away, like the Egyptians whom the children of Israel saw no more.

Isaiah 41:13. For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

You must not miss those charming words, dear friends. Let me read them again. Some of you will want them, so do not miss them. There is some medicine here that you will need, may be, before long: «Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.»

Isaiah 41:15. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

You know the corn-drag was made rough at the bottom, as though it had sharp teeth, and when it was drawn over the wheat after it was spread out on the threshing-floor, the grain was separated from the chaff. So God tells his people, if they trust him, that he will make them into a threshing instrument having teeth, and they shall thresh, not ordinary harvests, but shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and make the hills as chaff. No task is too hard for God's people to accomplish when God is with them; difficulties vanish, and their fears are driven before the wind, when God strengthens them.

Isaiah 41:16. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Come, ye that are drooping in spirit, here is God's promise to you that you shall overcome all your difficulties, and then shall rejoice in God. «Oh!» say you, «I could rejoice in God if he enabled me to do that. Put the «if» away, and believe that he is about to help you, and anticipate the victory he is going to give you by singing the song of faith.

Isaiah 41:17. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst,

They have come to such a state that they cannot even tell their wants; they do not know how to speak to others about their grief, or even to describe it to themselves. «Their tongue faileth for thirst.» What then?

Isaiah 41:17. I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

«But, Lord, they could not speak. Didst thou not say, ‘Their tongue faileth'? Yet thou sayest, ‘I the Lord will hear them.'» It shows, dear friends, that a groan is a prayer, a sigh is a prayer, and that, even if we cannot get as far as to sigh or groan, our very hunger and thirst make up a prayer before God: «I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.»

Isaiah 41:18. I will open rivers in high places,-

That is an unusual place to find rivers; but God does strange things when he shows mercy to the poor and needy: «I will open rivers in high places,»

Isaiah 41:18. And fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

There shall be enough and to spare; there shall be an abundance of the water of which before they could not find a single drop. When God is gracious to a soul, he is gracious. When his mercy is made to enter a man's heart, then he pours floods upon him. No little grace will God bestow, but endless grace, and boundless grace, «and crown that grace with glory, too.»

Isaiah 41:19. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

May these gracious promises be fulfilled in you and me, that we may praise our faithful covenant-keeping God for ever and ever! Amen.